March 20th – I passed the Shire Oak open for the last time for the foreseeable future.
The lights were on. It looked warm, welcoming.The sky, street light and and atmosphere made it look gorgeous. People were inside. I considered joining them. Fleetingly.
What on earth will this country be like without pubs? I have no idea.
At least we can still get a curry… For now.
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December 1st – Green Lane is a major rat run between Walsall Wood and Sheffield, and has been closed for some weeks for drainage work. Theoretically supposed to be reopening the next day, I went to see how the works were progressing.
Oh dear, I don’t think that’ll be open for a while yet. I guess bad weather must have really held them up.
Since there’s no pedestrian way around, looks like I’ll be coming back along the A461 for a week or so yet…
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June 8th – I hopped off the canal at Bentley Mill Way to check out the work on the aqueduct from ground level; as the road is still closed, I was curious; it seems there’s work on the north side that can’t be seen from the canal.
I’m sure whole canals were dug by hand faster than this project has limped to completion.
One of the first things I noted was the new towpath surface ends at the top of the steps here, so I guess the intention is you get here using the shared-use path, then hop on the canal for Walsall.
Only a non-cyclist could have thought this was a good idea. The steps, even for a fairly strong bloke like me, were a nightmare with a bike. There’s no handrail. No wheeling channel. The steps are at an awkward pitch, and overgrown. This is lousy, and I strongly advise cyclists not to use it.
Off the bridge, the roadway has been lowered considerably to accommodate taller vehicles, but I’m not sure that’ll help much as the width is very restricted.
As I said before, I hope the pumps hoovering the water from those drains are reliable.
I don’t want to dislike this – but this has cost millions, for no real improvement and it stinks of being someone’s pet project.
Dire.
November 12th – Bentley Mill Way at Bentley Bridge, between Darlaston and Walsall is closed for a major road improvement project, which seems to be starting quite slowly. As I passed today, there were a few groundworks going on and a JCB removing old tree stumps, but not much else. The closed road – that’s a surveyors car judging by the guy that got out of it – is flooded quite deeply now.
It’ll be interesting to watch this project progress: I noted yesterday on Google Maps that it’s already showing Bentley Mill Way as being a dead end. Nifty.
March 18th – Empty for months now, the former Rushall Mews care home for the elderly was built and operated throughout most of it’s life by the local authority, Walsall Council. It was a well loved, modern facility built in the 1980s, and was a fine thing indeed. Sadly, it has been a victim of the cold wind blowing through local government, and it has been closed, like most such council provision.
Councillors and ‘change managers’ waffle on with weasel words and forked tongues about ‘increasing choice’ and other such worn-out cliches, but the closure of lifelines like this and other units like Narrow Lane in Pleck and Short Street in Brownhills, coupled with the loss of daycentres, is purely a money saving exercise. Like the rest, this good quality building – still more than fit for purpose – will be bulldozed for private housing.
The service users and the cost of their care didn’t create the problems, but most don’t vote, so they’re an easy target. Meanwhile, the politicians and money men who did cause the problem walk away unscathed.
It took decades to get facilities like this for our aged and vulnerable. It has taken but a few short years to wipe them out. The social care system is hard to assemble, but tragically easy to take apart.
I pass this empty place often, and the site of it fills me with sadness.
March 2nd – Whilst in the public notices department, it had been drawn to my attention that the Black Path – the popular right of way from the bottom of The Parade to Watling Street by Brownhills School – had been temporarily closed by council order following the flooding I documented recently. Today, I noted that the water on the tennis courts and at the foot of the incline at the top of the path had receded. Both problems will now, without doubt, be forgotten by the council until the next period of heavy rains.
Oak Park’s bowling green is still doubling as a lido.
Is it too much to ask that these problems be fixed once and for all before the next wet winter? Closing the Black Path may not seem much, but if you have to walk it’s a very long way arouund…
July 18th – Commuting, security and bike racks. In preparation for tunnelgeddon hitting Brum at the weekend – when the city’s Queensway tunnels are closed for six weeks for refurbishment and traffic chaos is expected to ensue – Birmingham City council have been encouraging car or public transport commuters to take to their bikes instead. This is a good idea, and to support it, bike racks have been springing up around the city centre like mushrooms. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
But then there’s what you do when you get to a rack. I was intrigued by the bike I spotted on the way to work this morning, which had no less than three locks wrapped around the seatpost. Only 2 looked like they were used regularly, and the third is made of cheese. That’s serious extra weight to be carrying.
An odd thing, indeed.
April 17th – Someone asked me on twitter this week why Lynn Lane between Shenstone and Stonnall was closed. I had no idea it was, so tonight, I took a detour and checked it out. The lane is, indeed, barriered off at both ends, but roadworks that seem to have been taking place between Thornyhurst Lane and Raikes Lane seem to have finished now. There was certainly nothing to justify the closure when I passed this evening.
They may well be going to dig another hole, but one can’t help wondering why a road with no hazards remains shut.
March 12th – The Black oak bridge has been in a grim state for a while, having recently lost some of it’s guard rails. When I noticed last week that the bridge was to be closed today for repairs, I was interested to see how the people repairing it overcame the problem of the the rotten angle iron rail supports that hold the guard planks up.
It seems we’ve been visited by Bodgitt & Scarper. When I crossed the bridge tonight, I too a look at the fix. The planks were only painted one side, and not cut or erected very well. On the northern side, they aren’t fixed to the uprights, but fresh supports have just been hammered in between the top and bottom rails to do the same job.
It’s a fix, of sorts, but it isn’t well executed, and on the northern side, will probably fall apart at the next vehicle scrape. I know the Canal & Rivers Trust – formerly British Waterways – are short of cash, but there’s little excuse for such poor work.
Disappointing, I’d say.
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